As future high speed computing technologies find a need to transfer large amounts of data from point to point within an electronic component, technologies will have to adapt in order to satisfy this requirement. The common solution today is to carry inter-circuit and intra-circuit signals via traditional electrical conductors. As processing speeds increase, however, the skin effect of high frequency electrical signals can create a host of problems including high resistance, large power consumption, and a limited signal transmission distance.
In recent years, increased attention has been focused on optical interconnects as a means to solve the problems encountered with traditional electrical connections. While optical connections have always been known for their speed and reliability they have also been associated with a high cost of implementation. In fact, in an effort to help advance the relevant Art in the field, intense research has been underway in the field of silicon photonics which uses silicon as a substrate to generate, modulate, and transmit optical signals using low cost and easily produced components.